The real reason behind Elon Musk’s decision to sell his seven mansions for a tiny house worth just $50,000 has been revealed.
The tech mogul has shed some light on the reason why he sold up his entire property portfolio and instead lives in a humble home.
Despite being the richest man in the world, the Tesla boss has a very unusual lifestyle for a billionaire.
Instead of living it up inside on a huge yacht or a super mansion, in 2020, Musk made the decision to get rid of almost all of his physical possessions.
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Taking to his own social media platform X, formerly Twitter, he wrote at the time that he will ‘own no house’, before he put his collection of estates in the Bel Air neighborhood of Los Angeles on the market.
Where does Elon Musk live now?
After the surprising move, Musk decided to move away from California to set up a home in Texas.
This was partly influenced due to the shift of operations by his companies.
The SpaceX founder tweeted: “My primary home is literally a ~$50k house in Boca Chica / Starbase that I rent from SpaceX.
“It’s kinda awesome though. Only house I own is the events house in the Bay Area.
“If I sold it, the house would see less use, unless bought by a big family, which might happen some day.”
In a 2022 podcast interview with Full Send, he added that his smaller home is ‘right next to the rocket factory’, so he could just ‘literally walk’ to the factory whenever he needed.
“When friends come to stay in it, they can’t believe I live in this house... I find if I am by myself, it is fine,” Musk continued.
He also told Joe Rogen that building a house, even a ‘really great house’, is not a good allocation of his time in comparison to ‘getting us to Mars and helping solve sustainable energy’.
Musk decided to move into a 375-square-foot prefabricated home made by startup Boxabl, which cost around $50,000.
This compact ‘Casita’ model is supposedly designed for portability and affordability, with a living area, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom.
Musk denies owning a 'secret compound'
The New York Times reported in 2024 that Musk had purchased multiple properties in Austin for $35 million. He was rumoured to be building a massive compound for his 14 children.
“That way, his younger children could be a part of one another’s lives, and Mr. Musk could schedule time among them,” a source supposedly familiar with his plans said.
However, the tech mogul said to Page Six after the article was published that ‘I don’t own nor am I building a compound in Austin’.
“No grand family home has been built or is expected to be built,” he added.
However, Business Insider reported that Musk wants his SpaceX complex ‘Starbase’ to become an actual city in Texas.
The majority of SpaceX staff voted to include the surrounding area into an official city, which would span 1.5 square miles and house roughly 500 people.
In May, he won the vote to do so, as he tweeted that Starbase was ‘now a real city’.